We're celebrating the end of summer with a special bonus episode, Meet the (Un)Retirement Experts. It's a little different from the typical I Used to be Somebody episode. Instead of just one guest who's had a really interesting second act, we're talking to 3 great minds in the (un)retirement world. A little twist is that they are from 3 different age perspectives too. Paul is in his 60's, Gary is in his 70's and Ron is in his 80's!

Paul Long

As founder-creator of New Way Forward, Paul helps retired people pursue a new life of relevance, impact and income that is aligned with what they truly want. Paul grew up in Dallas, Texas and says he literally grew up in the radio business, going with his dad to work. He had careers as a TV reporter and TV weathercaster. 

After 20 years, Paul pivoted to the production side of the business and founded Paul Long Productions, developing Emmy-award-winning content, executing video, live, events, campaigns and more. In his 50's, Paul noticed more and more people were looking to pivot their lives from the default one to a life that was right for them. Now, as an experienced storyteller and journalist, New Way Forward has given Paul his own fulfillment as he helps people transition and realize their best life.

Paul's Tips on Unretirement:

•   "Take some time, self-evaluate, look for relevance and purpose."

•   "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

•   "Ask yourself: What do I want holistically in my life, not just professionally or about earning income?"

Gary Sirak

Gary is an author, speaker and financial advisor from Canton, Ohio. Growing up his parents struggled financially for years until his dad turned his American dream into a reality, becoming very successful in the insurance business. "I got to see both sides, having a little and a lot," Gary tells us. After graduating from Miami University in Ohio, Gary worked so hard that he realized he was at the peak of his career and he wasn't happy. A friend told him to look back to where he came from. Gary says he had been pushing so hard he never took the time to celebrate his successes. "That really opened up a light I hadn't seen."

He lost some friends almost right after retirement and Gary felt there must be a better way. He wrote the successful book, How to Retire and Not Die, to help others have a better life in retirement. When not consulting, writing or speaking, Gary also enjoys mentoring and writing songs--he's written 35 so far. Gary says, "If I can impact people in a positive way, how important is that!"

Gary's Tips on Unretirement:

•  "Look for someone you know who is successfully retired, and take them to lunch, or coffee. I call them 'retirement mentors.' You can learn from them."

•  "Have a purpose, a passion, a plan" Stay active, be involved in community service and have financial peace of mind."

Dr. Ron Kaiser, Ph.D.

"Dr. Ron" is 87 and lives in Philadelphia, PA where he is now the Chief Immersion Officer at Better Age. He is a psychologist, coach, author, podcaster, keynote and TEDx speaker. He is author and host of the podcast of REJUVENAGING: The Art and Science of Growing Older with Enthusiasm.

Ron grew up in Minneapolis in a middle-class, close-knit community. He had a successful, decades-long career in psychology, (he's still doing it in addition to everything else), but in his 60's he noticed that some of his peers seemed to thrive after retirement while others thought retirement meant decline. "We've now got the science that people are retiring and living 30 years or more. I felt an obligation to spread the word." He tells us that after he wrote his book, he assumed everything would fall into place, which it did not. "I needed to learn social media, use my voice for good, be more assertive and teach," he says.

Dr. Ron's Unretirement Tips:

• "You have to discipline yourself. When you're retired, you don't have to go somewhere at a certain time, eat at a certain time, etc. But if you want to be productive, the stuff that got you there is the same thing that's going to get you further in life."

• "Age is a number, not an excuse!"

• "If you're looking for purpose, you have to find it within yourself. It's important to set goals through every stage of life."

There's a common thread with these wise guys. They all have a driving force to help people live their best life. How cool is that? 

• More about Paul Long

• More about Gary Sirak

• More about Dr. Ron Kaiser

• I Used to be Somebody World Tours - Tuscany, Portugal, Pickleball Adventure

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.

Tags:    blog   (Un)Retirement   Ask The Experts   Paul Long interview   Gary Sirak interview   Dr. Ron Kaiser interview   storyteller   author   speaker   financial advisor   coach   psychologist   keynote speaker  

What a fascinating story about Mary-Lou Nash who arrived in South Africa with just a backpack and eventually becomes a winemaster. Her Black Pearl winery is in the Paarl valley, near Cape Town. Her story is one of curiosity for the world, taking chances, a lot of hard work and dogged perseverance. In 1995 she had been a teacher traveling the world and decided on a whim to take her backpack and meet her dad in South Africa. She had no idea then that choosing to go to South Africa would set her life on a completely new course.

 

Mary-Lou was born in England and grew up in Canada and Maine. Both of her parents were doctors and she was one of 4 children. "Everywhere I've lived in my life was in the countryside." As a teen, Mary-Lou says she partied hard, played hard at sports and studied hard. (Even at an early age, her passions were her driving force.) She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A. in Anthropology, summa cum laude and then taught English in Japan, traveling the world in her spare time.

 

Her father had remarried, went to South Africa for a honeymoon and then purchased a farm, not realizing it had 40 acres of Chenin Blanc. Mary-Lou visited him there. "I knew nothing about grapes," she tells us. They had no laborers and decided to harvest the grapes themselves. They picked 3 tons on a Friday and with an aching back recruited more workers and finished the harvest. Mary-Lou was hooked. She told her dad she would stay on as the manager. In 1997, they planted grapes for red wines.
 

Always determined, she is a self-taught winemaker that faced real discrimination in the 1990's male-dominated wine industry. She worked hard and never gave up, always reaching out and befriending other winemakers to continually learn more. She received her Cape Wine Masters degree in 2011 from the University in Stellenbosch. In 2001 she created her first vintage herself. "I had bottled, created a label and had never given a thought to selling it!" Today, Mary-Lou's winery produces 7,300 barrels of red in addition to white wine.

 

Fun Fact: Mary-Lou met a wine distributor along the way that helped her get her label into Disney. Turns out Jack Sparrow's pirate ship (Pirates of the Caribbean) is also named "Black Pearl." Her Cabernet is the #1-selling South African red in Disney World.

 

Unfortunately, Mary-Lou was involved in a harrowing experience being robbed at knifepoint in her home at the winery and she decided to move to a home in Stellenbosch recently. "Everything happens for a reason. I was isolated at Black Pearl. Now I have moved into town, I have a whole new group of friends, I can walk everywhere, I take a yoga class on the beach and I've joined a sailing club. I love my life now!"

 

Mary-Lou's life advice:

• "Don't always take the easy route. Don't be scared of taking chances."

• "Put yourself first and do what makes you happy. We can't waste any time at our age!"

• "Always accept invitations--get out there! You never know who you might meet." (Her dad told her this one but she firmly lives it.)

• "It's all about the F-Word, as in FUN!"

• More about Mary-Lou Nash and Black Pearl Wines

• Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• (Un)Retirement Travel with the Pro Allan Wright, Zephyr Adventures

• I Used to be Somebody World Tours -- Tuscany, Portugal, Pickleball Adventure

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog

Tags:    Blog   Interview   Mary-Lou Nash   Winemaster   South Africa   (Un)Retirement   I Used To Be Somebody   Podcast  

A criminal district court judge takes up the guitar and never looks back. Carl interviews Jeannine Barr, who says a dream one night "really spoke to her" and she knew she wanted to become a musician. And unlike most people, she left her big career to follow her big dreams and actually took the leap.

Jeannine was born in Baton Rouge, LA as the youngest of three girls. Her father was an electrician and her mother was a nurse. "There were lots of rules in our house," she tells us.

As a student she was very competitive in academics, sports, cheerleading and more.

After college and teaching high school English briefly, she went to LSU law school and eventually became an assistant district attorney for nine years.

Unafraid to take chances, (as you will learn in this episode), Jeannine threw her hat in the political ring in 1994 and was elected as a judge. She moved up to overseeing felony and death penalty cases. She went on to be re-elected five more times, serving 24 years on the bench and retired in 2018.

In 2015, Jeannine said having to run for re-election every four years, plus the uncertainty of it was frustrating. One night she had a vivid dream that she had died creatively and that she was supposed to play the guitar. She announced to her husband the next day that she made a decision to learn to play the guitar at age 54 and he said, "Don't buy anything too expensive!"

After connecting with an encouraging teacher, Jeannine kept learning and challenging herself. She initially thought she'd learn some Christmas songs to play for family. Her teacher suggested she try to write songs and keep on doing it. "Suddenly I was a student and a virtual nobody in the music scene," she adds. She kept playing and writing. In 2018 her teacher introduced to Grammy-winning producer Billy Dorsey. That led to her first recorded song, "The Color Red," and eventually she released a 7-song EP titled, "Late to the Party."

Today Jeannine continues to record new songs and has been featured on the "Women of Substance" podcast. She loves to bowl with a league every week and lives with her husband, cats, (and guitars) in Houston, TX. She says, "At the end of the day, we're going to regret what we didn't try."

Jeannine Barr's (un)retirement tips:

• "Going to my first guitar lesson was incredibly humbling. I found it very difficult. The beauty of it was that I was vulnerable and it would be ok."

• "I went from directing bailiffs to having zero idea of what to do. It was a total role-reversal for me. Yet also---- a whole new gig!"

• "Just try it. Follow the dream. Try not to be too impatient with yourself."

****************************************

Jeannine was so inspired by being interviewed that she wrote Carl a song "I Used to be Somebody". Listen here!  

• More about Jeannine Barr 

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not 

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• (Un)Retirement Travel with the Pro Allan Wright Zephyr Adventures

• I Used to be Somebody World Tours Tuscany, Portugal, Pickleball Adventure

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.

Tags:    I Used To Be Someboday   (Un)Retirement   Jeannine Barr Interview   Judge   Singer/Songerwriter  

Carl interviews filmmaker Sky Bergman. Sky's directorial debut, "Lives Well Lived" is currently airing on PBS, Amazon, iTunes and Kanopy. The documentary is a collection of fascinating interviews with about a dozen older adults sharing historical perspectives, their advice for future generations ad reflections on living a life well lived. Making documentaries is her second act as she is also an accomplished, award-winning photographer and still teaches photography at Cal Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Sky's parents were divorced so she grew up in Philadelphia, Florida and spent summers in upstate New York. She says she had the good fortune of living in a four-generational household. Her father was a geriatric physician. "He would come home and tell me these amazing stories about his patients. I know that colored my consciousness to want to be part of older people's lives and tell their stories."

In school, she was a bit of an introvert and a band geek. She found her passion for photography at an early age. "I fell in love with the dark room!" she says. After college she traveled the world as a professional photographer. Her artwork is included in permanent collections at the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Seattle Art Museum, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, among others. Her commercial work has appeared on book covers for Random House and Farrar. She says a highlight of her photography career has been the cover of the Smithsonian Magazine in 2001. "I loved traveling and photography so I could follow both passions at the same time."

After teaching for many years, Sky (un)retired at age 56. "I wanted to make a movie about older generations and share their stories with the world." She put together a list of interesting people and a list of 20 questions for them. Carl asks her how she was able to fund the movie. "I have never let money stand in the way of what I want to do," she tells us. Sky decided the grant submission process was too lengthy for her, so she came up with a revenue-generating plan by renting out rooms in her home. She tells her visitors they are helping to fund her movie and they end up excited supporters as well. "A crazy, wonderful way to fund a film!" she acknowledges.

"Lives Well Lived" debuted to a sold-out audience of 850 with her grandmother and many of the film's subjects in attendance. It was a true highlight for Sky. She is now working on two new projects, "What is Mochitsuki?" a film celebrating family, tradition and mochi, and a documentary about the "Prime Time Band", a band of musicians aged 40 to 90 who are reigniting old passions. Sky says, "The only way to combat ageism is to make generational connections!"

Sky Bergman's (un)retirement advice:

• "Pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone makes for a more interesting life."

• "Develop a new sense of purpose after you retire. Who are you now and what do you still want to do? Whatever it is, you have to plan and think about your future. Remember, finding your sense of purpose is life-long, and can change over time."

• "Have a good support system--not just family but also friends."

• "Attitude and resilience go hand-in-hand. There are so many times in our lives when we cannot control what's happening around us. But we can control our attitude about it."

• More about Sky Bergman

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not 

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• (Un)Retirement Travel with the Pro Allan Wright, Zephyr Adventures

• I Used to be Somebody World Tours Tuscany, Portugal, Pickleball Adventure

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.

Tags:    blog   Sky Bergman   Filmmaker   Professor   Interview   World Tour   Pickleball Tour   (Un)Retirement   Carl Landau  

It's been a few years now since I ended my full-time career and (un)retired. I have had more time for myself and everything else in general with not so many stressful demands on my time. I've noticed my perspective about some things has changed. Am I a weirdo or do you notice it in (un)retirement too?

In my full-time career, I felt like my schedule was always at warp speed, even bringing my laptop on vacation. (Ok, I still do that.) But I'm actually enjoying becoming sort of "Zen-like" about very ordinary things that I either hated to do or rushed through to do.

I'm a different guy now! Here's what I mean:

Trash/Recycle Guy: Once a week, we need to put out the trash can at the curb and every-other-week the recycling. I find that now I'm somehow in some sort of a contest with my next- door neighbor, Norman, who can get the cans out faster than anyone on the street. (Full exposure, I'm sure my neighbor has no idea about this supposed contest.) And when I take a walk around the neighborhood now, I'm even picking up the knocked over empty trash cans that are laying in the street. I'm this guy now?

Laundry/Football Guy: I hate doing laundry. Yet somehow I'm now looking forward to doing laundry and folding clothes while I watch football/basketball/baseball. (Did you know there is actually only 18 minutes of live action during a typical NFL game?) My wife appreciates this new laundry guy very much.

Stretch/Meditate Guy: I am an A-personality type guy that never allowed down time for anything. Now I find myself every morning spending at least 15-20 minutes of mindful stretching on a yoga mat and meditating to some music. My 17-year old cat, Felix, joins in on the yoga-mat-fun and "stretches" with me. He thinks this is his new daily routine too. (Imagine him waving his tale in my face, jumping over me and generally bothering me to the beat of the tunes.) So even the cat likes this guy.

Breakfast Tea Guy: I drank glasses of Diet Coke every morning for 45 years. A month ago, I decided to stop. I feel so much better now! I really can't believe the difference. Since I don't care for coffee, I am now a cup or two, tea-drinker with honey and a little-spoon to go with it. Yep, that's me now. I start the day relaxed and calm, vs. hyped up on diet coke. Everyone likes this guy.

Feelings Guy: I don't end any phone call or visit with my daughters without saying "I love you so much." I'm telling my college friend and roommate from 45 years ago that I love him. What in the hell is happening to me? But I think I like this empathetic, Kumbaya guy.

I sure hope this continues. I wonder what changes will happen next. What about you?

Tags:    The Carl Diary   (Un)retirement   Discover   Blog   Pickleball   I Used To Be Somebody   Carl Landau   Who am I now?